Relationships between cognitive styles and written composition of African American ninth grade students in a metropolitan school district in Western Michigan /

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationships that exist between cognitive styles, and written composition. The procedure included testing 200 ninth grade students in six high schools in a metropolitan school district in western Michigan, with the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT). The median for the GEFT scores was the criterion used to form two categories of cognitive styles, low field-independent and high field-independent. The writing items of the Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) Eighth Grade Writing Test, provided the measures for writing comprehension. Analyses of one-way ANOVA were performed to determine whether there were statistically significant differences between low field-independent and high field-independent subjects in written composition. The analysis of the data revealed a statistically significant difference for the measure of written comprehension, F (l, 198) = 214.62, P < .05. The written comprehension of raw scores were higher for high field-independent subjects than for low field-independent subjects. The result of the styles were manifested in written composition. The data suggested that written comprehension is likely to differ remarkably as a function of cognitive styles. The disposition to process information in a more articulated or less articulated manner is reflected in writing.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Year dc:date.available

1997

Author dc:creator

• Large, Catherine W.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Manuel Mazon

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/1223

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.wayne.edu:oa_dissertations-2222